I went with Vidya to a baby shower Saturday evening. I was assured other males would be there, as normally it is a ladies night out. The unborn’s father and a couple of other young fathers were there, as was Skybear.

I had an agenda for going. The mother to be, Sara(svati) is the daughter of Dharma and Soma. Dharma has always been famous throughout the 3 farms as the greatest baker, and her cakes are paramacakes. I can endure any amount of warm and fuzziness for a Dharma cake.

Also fun was that the demographics of the baby shower tended to lots of babies, toddlers, and hyperactive 3 and 4 year olds. So refreshing to be around that energy, as my own grandchildren are far away. You can get a real buzz from that energy, very life affirming.

Part of the tradition of baby showers is playing games. I skipped most of them to hang around where kids were, but one intrigued me so I stepped in and played.

They had a tray of a lot of different objects and cards with pictures of things on them. Mostly baby related paraphernalia with other stuff mixed in, like an incense holder. The tray was passed around and you got a minute or two to look at it. Then it was removed.

The idea was to write down as many things as you could remember from the tray. Whoever remembered the most would be the winner.

What tipped me to participate was a kindly intended disclaimer made by the introducer of the game that they didn’t expect the older devotees to do well. Being soccerless these days, I have to take up what competitive challenges as I can, so in I dove.

Working on my list, I got a clarification that the only points would be for correct answers, and no deductions for wrong answers. Therefore once I had put down everything I was sure about, I started another column for guesses of things that could logically have been included. While putting down guesses, I would remember other things that were there.

Vidya and others had finished, but I was taking the maximum amount of time, as memory sometimes comes in delayed dribs and drabs.

Now is confession time — as I was doing this, Vidya leaned over and mentioned two things I didn’t have yet and I wrote them down. This wouldn’t have mattered but as it turned out, I ended up winning.

Now, I could play lawyer and say that there had been no explicit rule against collaborating, but it had been implied. I could also make the argument that Vidya interrupted my train of thought and I would have gotten those or other items anyway. Still…

After it was announced I won, I sought out the compiler of the scores and found out that the margin of victory was by two in any case, so at minimum I had tied for first, even eliminating the hints.

I told Vidya that maybe I should give the prize back. I had left the room before the results were announced and she said no, that the real prize for the participants was that they had been so amused that I won, so I kept it.

Thusly, Gosh won a hand towel.